With the advent easily of portable electronics and affordable networking technology, it has become possible to work (or play) in a variety of locations while retaining access to one's network resources. In particular, with recent advances of wireless networking technology, a current trend has been to provide some type of wireless networking services in various locations so that a traveler need not locate a traditional wired networking connection while traveling. For example, wireless connections can be found in transportation areas, e.g., airports, car/bus terminals, parking lots, etc., businesses, e.g., hallways, conference rooms, offices, cubicles, etc., as well as residential areas, e.g., homes, apartment complexes, etc.
Unfortunately, no single wireless networking standard is currently in use, and a traveler may encounter different wireless technologies in different locations. For example, the traveler may encounter Bluetooth environments, 802.11 environments (the term 802.11 is used to represent a family of wireless protocols specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), e.g., IEEE Std 802.11a-1999, IEEE Std 802.11b-1999, etc.), wireless optical environments, e.g., infrared, etc., or other wireless technology. In addition, each wireless connectivity option may have different associated costs or restrictions, e.g., restrictions on bandwidth, time of day usage, etc., as well as ancillary costs, e.g., airtime costs for an accessing device such as a cellular telephone.
Thus, when traveling, although there may be many different connectivity options in a particular area, there is no convenient and reliable way to know what wired or wireless services are available in the particular area. And, there is no convenient and reliable way to know associated costs for the services. Consequently, a traveler cannot plan with respect to expected future service availability.